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Category Archives: Vegan

I have been making this recipe for so long that I have no recollection where it came from. It has been a family and friends favorite for years and years and goes well with so many things. I usually make it in the summer time to take on a picnic or for a BBQ (although I have made it for my step-son many times in other seasons). It is versatile and can be made with chicken stock, vegetable stock or just plain water. I always double the recipe so that there are leftovers. Couscous Salad Ingredients: 2/3 cup currants 3 Tsp butter 1 ½ cups stock 1 ½ cups couscous 1 ½ cups diced celery 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts 1/4 cup parsley (coarsely chopped) 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup...

Yotam Ottolenghi, the darling of London’s contemporary culinary world, brings us amazing, delicious, and not too complicated recipes with a Middle-Eastern sensibility, along with delightful cookbook banter. His cookbooks, “Plenty,” “Ottolenghi,” “Jerusalem,” and “Nopi,” are among my favorites. I find something new and interesting to make every time I pick up one of the books. Yesterday I was looking around in the refrigerator to see what I could pull together for dinner and I found myself with a head of cauliflower. I looked through my old stand-by cauliflower recipes and just felt like I needed some inspiration. Yotam and Sami Tamimi (his partner and co-author of “Jerusalem”) hit the nail on the head...

Every year on January 1st, we have a big New Year’s Day party and celebration of Jared’s birthday. We feed the crowd traditional New Year’s Day foods including Hoppin’ John (Black-eyed peas) and collard greens and cornbread with butter and honey and a variety of desserts including of course, a birthday cake for Jared. The cake is typically carrot – his favorite – and this year it was really delicious and moist and wonderful AND Disa Fink (See, Batch-33, July 20, 2012 for information about Disa and Wintercoat Brewery), who is in town, frosted it so it was also VERY PRETTY! (See, Batch-33.com, September 18, 2012 for carrot cake recipe). I love the day because so many of my friends are together and over the years they have...

‘Tis the Season but somehow it doesn’t have the normal pizzazz it usually has. The Promenade was kind of low-key. The stores weren’t crowded. The bookstore had some folks in it but it wasn’t crazy. Main Street and Abbot Kinney were a little pokey. Not overwhelmed with parties. It’s just a weird year. Perhaps something to do with the election and fear and sadness and anxiety and fatigue? Just not festive. Notwithstanding, we have had a nice pre-holiday period. Although it’s not usual to make a new friend at our advancing ages, we somehow did. Marianne Kooimans and her husband Steven Woods and amazing daughter Oona Woods. The family of the wonderful shop on Main Street (previously on Abbot Kinney) called Koko....

In September 2012, I wrote about a road-trip that Alan and I took up to Oregon. It included a stop at Suzy and Barry Stone’s incredible home on the Rogue River. Two lovely, generous hearted people with a vegetable garden to match (lovely and generous hearted!) That vegetable garden was something to behold and as evidenced by photos that Barry sent to me last week it’s even bigger and better four years later. How I would love to be there in that garden, with those lovely people, strolling through the garden, cooking, and river rafting, and hanging out... When Barry sent me photos of the updated garden he also told me about the jamming and canning that he’d been doing this summer. Apricot, peach, dill pickles. I was all over...

My friend Karen had a lovely mom - grandma to Sophie and Lily. Her name was Mary Spivey. She was the best. She was beloved. Mary was a wonderful person. She had a very interesting life and shared it with her children. I learned so much being around her – about adventure and risks and what was important; about being quiet; about responsibility and fun; about acceptance. One day I will I tell you about Mary – as I knew her and about her life - as she told it to me. I had the good fortune of hearing about her early years, in detail, when we were in Paris together for one of her birthdays. She was so ahead of her time and so funny and competent. In addition to her history I have my own experience of her to share. I admired...

There’s this really great beach house in Santa Monica that a whole bunch of folks own together (not us). Sometimes we get lucky and friends, who are members, invite us to join them for dinner. This past weekend Dennis and Lauri invited us to join them along with Alan and Theresa (there you are again T) for dinner at the beach house. So nice. We really enjoy all of these folks and their beach house is a nice place to see each other. Of course we would love to see them anywhere! But the beach house is nice for sure. We all contributed to the meal with Dennis and Lauri doing the heavy lifting - the most amazing food including these delicious carrots which Dennis grilled on site and then glazed. I love them. I made them the...

This soup is stunning and it’s lovely cold or hot. Soup in summer has become one of my favorite things – savory, sweet, tart, spicy – all good. This one is a winner. Watercress Vichyssoise (adapted from Vegetarian Times Magazine – June 2016) This is a flexible recipe and I doubled it for six and had a bit left over for lunch! It is also very easy to make this Vegan Ingredients: 1 Tbsp butter or olive oil (olive oil if you’re going vegan) 2 medium leeks, halved, white and light-green parts thinly sliced (about 2 cups) 1 medium Russet or Yukon gold potato (about 6 oz), peeled and diced 4 cups fresh watercress, pus more for garnish 3 cups vegetable stock or water 3 Tbsp crème fraiche (optional)...

The Gourmandise School of Cooking
This is a small and wonderfully lovely cooking school in Santa Monica. Located on the top floor of Santa Monica Place. Classes include everything from cooking baking, frosting, bread baking, to much more exotic fare. Teachers are delightful.